Wanda Café Optimista or Wanda Optimist Cafe, is the latest project of designer Parolio. After the recent years, of recession in Madrid, Parolio wanted to design a place that communicates the opposite: projecting vitality, joy, color and a positive outlook on life. The idea is that when you enter Wanda you enter the emotional universe of vacations, summer, Surf and everything positive you feel on these fun days of the year. Inside Wanda it’s always sunny, there is always a good vibe.
For achieve this Parolio chose to develop an eclectic «Look & Feel», cool and casual. Using as inspiration tribal elements, pastels and fluorescent colors and even. For the bar area we worked mainly with bars of solid wood as a module, some with the natural wood color and other lacquered fluorescent pink. To create the main bar covering, wood bars where placed piece by piece, by hand, giving the effect of a three-dimensional tribal print.
The main lamp of the bar with a diameter of 180 cm and 180 high is also built with solid wood bars in natural color, interspersed with transparent methacrylate tubes, the final effect is a modern interpretation of a tribal fabric that comes alive with lights.
In the dining areas, Parolio worked primarily with wood to define seating areas with benches, the same wood panels where use as wall coverings and geometric die cuts are backlit. Support shelves and furniture are all in wood. On the walls Parolio used cheerful pastels names such as «coral sand», «Piña Colada», «tropical sea» and «beach»… all chairs are made of natural cane, hand-woven in pastel colors and the colorful custom made cushions are silkscreened on canvas with pastel and fluorescent colors. Carrara marble tabletops round up these areas. On the walls, large illustrations, paper cut by German illustrator Boris Schmitz and a mural composed of fluorescent color blocks and photos give an artistic touch to the space.
Wanda, is the metaphorical name, of a “summer love”. That girl or boy you fell in love on your trip to the beach as a youngster and remember forever. The name evokes all the optimism, fun and romance of that experience we’ve all experience at some point.
CREDITS:
Wanda Café Optimista, Madrid
Interior Design and Creative Direction: Parolio
Photography: Juan Baraja
